Best way to lose weight for over 55 year olds

TGHusker

TGHusker

New member
Everyone, I'd like to lose 30 - 40 lbs (I'm at 218 now) and am 5'10.5" & I'm 59 years old. I've never been much of a weight lifter even in my HS days when I played 4 different sports. But I hear that doing a lot of weight reps very fast is the best way to lose fat and pounds - better than the aerobic exercises.

What would you guys say (the guys who know a thing or 2 about training) suggest as a sample workout routine. I belong to a Planet Fitness gym here in town so they have the machines and the free weights but no pool.

Thanks for the tips.

PS- also - have any of you found a way to be accountable to someone else that works - to keep you motivated and pursuing your goal?

 
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I think the idea there is to have some intensity for the post-workout afterburn...seems to me like more of a "efficiency" thing per time spent, rather than one being better than the other. Though, why not both? Probably the best cardio to do would be on a stationary bike, to avoid stress on the joints that jogging will do. Walking is good, too, not as a workout program really, just a "big part of your everyday life" thing. All starts with nutrition though. Can't imagine this will do much good without starting with what you eat (and what you don't!)

I don't really know much about training though so I'll let the pros answer, mostly
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Actually, I'd focus on your diet first. Most of your results are going to come from eating correctly, not from working out. At least initially. I'm not saying don't work out. What i am saying is that you can't out exercise over eating.

I don't really mean you need go all "healthy". You just need to eat the right amount of stuff, day in and day out.

If I were you, I'd start using an app like MyFitnessPal or something similar. Tell it you want to lose a pound a week. It will tell you how many calories to consume.

Do that, monitor your weight and adjust accordingly. Not losing weight after a few weeks? Move more or ratchet down a few hundred calories. Losing weight too quickly? Eat a bit more. Adjust.

As far as a workout routine, I favor simple routines involving barbells. A few movements, squat, deadlift, presses, etc. I don't think they own those at planet fitness.
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The simple way to lose weight is burn more calories than you take in. That involves not only a good workout program, but also watching what you eat.

For exercise, do what you enjoy doing. For your age, that could be as simple as walking or riding a bike. If you can do some weight-work, focus on high-rep, low rest between sets during your workout.

For your "diet", it's good to eat a number of small meals throughout the day. There is nothing wrong with eating when you are hungry. If you want to make a big change, watch what you drink. Avoid sodas and other drinks that are nothing but empty calories. Replace those with water and unsweetened iced tea.

 
There is one very hard fast but simple rule to losing weight. More calories burned than consumed.

Now, I would strongly suggest getting an app on your phone (there are several really good ones) where you keep track of what you eat and what you do for exercise. This then calculates your calories you burn and consume. After a while, it becomes just a habit and easy to quickly input what you are doing. You can easily learn what to eat and what not to eat and how days where you don't exercise really hurts you in weight loss because you just aren't burning calories.

As far as working out, I find doing some weight training and some aerobic exercise is the best. If you can build some muscle, that larger muscle mass burns more calories even while you are sleeping. Change up your workouts. Let's say you are a runner. If that is all you do, your body gets used to the stress and becomes extremely efficient in doing that exercise and you actually burn fewer calories. So, maybe you lift a couple days per week. Maybe you run one or two days. Maybe you bike (at a pace your heart beat is elevated) a day. Maybe you swim or play basketball.

The idea is that you don't allow your body to get used to just one movement or exercise. Continually stressing it in different ways will show much bigger gains.

Again, burn more than you take in. If you do that, you will lose weight. I believe the medical profession will say that 3,500 calories equals one lb. So, if you burn 6,000 - 7,000 calories more per week than you consume, you should lose a couple lbs per week.

The app I told you about will help keep track of that.

Good luck.

 
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One more thing. If you drink soft drinks.....STOP RIGHT NOW!!!!!

Even the diet varieties are absolutely some of the worst stuff you can put in your body and it will derail what you are trying to do here.

If you do drink it regularly, I challenge you to give it up for 60-90 days. Not one drop. After that, if you try it? It will be some of the grossest stuff you try to drink.

You also don't need sports drinks, supplements...etc.

Water...Drink more and more water.

 
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BigRedBuster said:
The idea is that you don't allow your body to get used to just one movement or exercise. Continually stressing it in different ways will show much bigger gains.
Again, burn more than you take in.
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BRB is especially correct with these statements. In your age group, you also need to think about joint & bone health. Range of motion with different excercises will help with both of these. If you just do one thing, it's harder to push the body in regards to calorie management.

I am 6' and ~6 years ago, I decided to drop ~35 lbs. I have kept almost all of it off since then (~32.5 lbs). I played competive sports until my early 30s and that was when weight became an issue. I was running at least 7 miles per day, weight training at least 3x per week and eating healthy and still got out of balance on calorie intake vs expenditure.

It starts & ends with diet for your age group. The healthier you eat, the easier it will be, imo. With the exception of highly processed foods & soda, it's about moderation. Sugar is a killer as with most processed foods. My big issue was fresh fruit. I ate healthy but too much fresh fruit can be like too much soda...

One tip I got from a GI Dr & nutrionist that works with a lot of Olympic & pro atheletes is fiber intake. She was religous about males over middle-age needing well over 40g fiber daily. At least 60% from natural food sources (non-processed veggies). This is bare minimum & her general rule over 35+ was 45-50g per day. For myself, I found that staying within this range gave me way more flexibility with the rest of my diet. Her rule for meals was carb to fiber ratio...

My recommendation is definitely speak with someone in this space (GI and/or nutrionist) as it will make it much easier to make adjustments to your diet. Losing the wieght only to put it back on again starts a very unhealthy cycle. Best to avioid if you can...

 
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DaveH said:
There is no evidence that "diet" soda is bad for you. None.

http://examine.com/faq/is-diet-soda-bad-for-you.html
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Even the article contradicts your statement.

The article states there are "no studies that indicate any long-term health risks". There are plenty of documented & established health risks with diet soda. Faster eroding of tooth enamel & stomach lining are two off the top the of my head... Also off memory, Aspartame has been causally linked to trigger cluster headaches (more debilitating than migraines) and has been established as a trigger for auto-immune disease responses such as pemphigus (if i recall correctly).

There is evidence it is bad for you. Is it worse than anything else, such as regular soda? That is TBD...

 
ColoNoCoHusker said:
DaveH said:
There is no evidence that "diet" soda is bad for you. None.

http://examine.com/faq/is-diet-soda-bad-for-you.html
Click to expand...
Even the article contradicts your statement.

The article states there are "no studies that indicate any long-term health risks". There are plenty of documented & established health risks with diet soda. Faster eroding of tooth enamel & stomach lining are two off the top the of my head... Also off memory, Aspartame has been causally linked to trigger cluster headaches (more debilitating than migraines) and has been established as a trigger for auto-immune disease responses such as pemphigus (if i recall correctly).

There is evidence it is bad for you. Is it worse than anything else, such as regular soda? That is TBD...
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Can you point to some good studies that show that diet soda leads to faster tooth enamel eroding and stomach lining, than, say, coffee or anything else? Ones with control groups, good sample size, etc.

Also, would like to see a reputable study on these "headaches". I do know that a very small percentage of the population report headaches, but so did people with MSG and that was proven to just not be the case. They essentially made it up.

The OP has much bigger fish to fry then futzing over diet soda.

 
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BigRedBuster said:
Hope these links work. I'm on my phone.

http://www.health.com/health/m/gallery/0,,20739512,00.html
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The study specifed in this list re: diabetes is pretty crappy. It doesn't show causality (i.e. consuming diet soda DOES increase your risk for diabetes). Basically it's saying there maybe a relationship here, or not. We don't really know. Again. A crappy source.

BigRedBuster said:
http://www.prevention.com/food/healthy-eating-tips/health-risks-drinking-diet-soda
Click to expand...
Same study, same thing. This is not good enough science to actually show a real problem worth acting on.

BigRedBuster said:
http://www.rodalenews.com/facts-about-soda

If you can honestly read the ingredients and think it's not bad for you ....well.....
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Just another list, pointing to vague studies about dyes and what not.

Listen, I'm not saying to go out and drink 12 of, well, anything except water. What I am saying is that this is NOT the biggest thing the OP, or anyone for that matter, has to worry about.

You want a diet soda or two? Fine, have some. It's not going to kill you now, or even in the long run. If you think it's the boogey man and to blame for your problems, fine don't drink it.

Just know that science clearly shows that it won't kill you or even do you appreciable harm. Spreading "news" that it will is sort of irresponsible IMO.

Stick to sources like Examine.com. They actually analyze these studies, sort the good from the bad and give you the straight dope on the topic.

This is a much better approach that reading an abstract, not really understanding the parameters, etc. Then putting together a click-bait article up about "Top X things you didn't know about Y".

 
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To each their own. I sure as heck wouldn't put that crap in my body on a regular basis especially when I'm trying to lose weight.

 
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ColoNoCoHusker said:
BigRedBuster said:
The idea is that you don't allow your body to get used to just one movement or exercise. Continually stressing it in different ways will show much bigger gains.
Again, burn more than you take in.
Click to expand...
BRB is especially correct with these statements. In your age group, you also need to think about joint & bone health. Range of motion with different excercises will help with both of these. If you just do one thing, it's harder to push the body in regards to calorie management.

I am 6' and ~6 years ago, I decided to drop ~35 lbs. I have kept almost all of it off since then (~32.5 lbs). I played competive sports until my early 30s and that was when weight became an issue. I was running at least 7 miles per day, weight training at least 3x per week and eating healthy and still got out of balance on calorie intake vs expenditure.

It starts & ends with diet for your age group. The healthier you eat, the easier it will be, imo. With the exception of highly processed foods & soda, it's about moderation. Sugar is a killer as with most processed foods. My big issue was fresh fruit. I ate healthy but too much fresh fruit can be like too much soda...

One tip I got from a GI Dr & nutrionist that works with a lot of Olympic & pro atheletes is fiber intake. She was religous about males over middle-age needing well over 40g fiber daily. At least 60% from natural food sources (non-processed veggies). This is bare minimum & her general rule over 35+ was 45-50g per day. For myself, I found that staying within this range gave me way more flexibility with the rest of my diet. Her rule for meals was carb to fiber ratio...

My recommendation is definitely speak with someone in this space (GI and/or nutrionist) as it will make it much easier to make adjustments to your diet. Losing the wieght only to put it back on again starts a very unhealthy cycle. Best to avioid if you can...
Click to expand...
Thanks everyone for your input. It is really appreciated. I think you hit on something here ColoNo. I eat pretty decently - my wife has to be gluten free so that affects our meals at home, I normally have a salad, fruit and either chicken or salmon on my salad for lunch. However, I may be getting too much fruit - normally a apple (or 2), banana, orange a day. Plus my "healthy' snacks typically are peanuts, nuts and sunflower seed (and the occasional junk salty chips from the snack machine). I rarely have a soda and we know the problem wt sugar (cancer loves it - so we use more healthy alternatives if possible). So I may be getting too many natural sugars from the fruit, too much salt from my snacks, and not enough fiber. I've lost 20 or more lbs before only to gain it back

Thanks for the input

 
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